Light emitting diodes (LEDs) or LED chips are solid state devices that convert electrical energy into light. LED chips can be utilized in light emitter devices or components for providing different colors and patterns of light useful in various lighting and optoelectronic applications. Light emitter devices can include surface mount devices (SMDs) which can be mounted directly onto the surface of an underlying circuit component or heat sink, such as a printed circuit board (PCB) or metal core printed circuit board (MCPCB). SMDs can comprise bottom electrical contacts or leads configured to directly mount to the underlying circuit component. SMDs can be used in various LED light bulb and light fixture applications and are developing as replacements for incandescent, fluorescent, and metal halide high-intensity discharge (HID) lighting applications.
Manufacturers of LED lighting products are constantly seeking ways to reduce their cost in order to provide a lower initial cost to customers, and encourage the adoption of LED products. Devices and components incorporating fewer raw materials at sustained or increased brightness levels using the same or less power are becoming more desirable.
Conventional light emitter devices, components, and methods utilize one or more LED chips individually mounted within a molded component body and/or individually mounted and individually encapsulated over a ceramic body. Individually molding, individually encapsulating, and/or individually processing devices can be both expensive and time-consuming. For example, problems associated with individually encapsulating LED chips includes sticking, inconsistent dispenses (e.g., over/under fills), and the increased time associated with individually encapsulating LED chips can cause phosphors to settle. Thus, obtaining consistent color targeting has been a problem. To date, there are no batch processed and/or batch encapsulated light emitter devices or components, but rather current devices and/or components are individually processed and/or provided.
Thus, despite the availability of various light emitter devices and components in the marketplace, a need remains for devices, components, and methods which can be produced quickly, efficiently, and at a lower cost. In some aspects, substrate based devices and components can allow for customized light emitter products having different trace patterns, different via placement, different LED chip connectivity, different dimensions, and/or different optical properties. Devices and components can be single or multi-chip components, and can make it easier for end-users to justify switching to LED products from a return on investment or payback perspective.